I'm here with you. You'll be OK

Friday

Jul 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 27, 2007 at 12:02 AM

Maria Papadopoulos

Mateus Mendes was with his friends near the James Edgar Playground on Winthrop Street about dinnertime Wednesday when witnesses say a car drove by and sprayed the area with bullets, hitting the Brockton 18-year-old several times.

Early Thursday, his father, Ramiro Mendes, a world-renowned Cape Verdean music producer and composer, got on a plane from Los Angeles to rush to his son's hospital bed in Boston.

A Norton 7-year-old visiting the neighborhood was treated and released at a local hospital after a chip of cement grazed his cheek during the shooting, police said.

Mendes' mother was playing with children on the other side of the park when her son was shot multiple times about 6 p.m.

After hearing the gunshots, she ran to her son, who had collapsed on a porch and was fading in and out of consciousness.

“I heard people yelling, yelling,” said his 37-year-old mother, a Cape Verdean immigrant who asked that her name not be used.

“Here, everybody is related to each other. And then I started yelling and crying,” she said from her Winthrop Street home. “All I know is I saw my son bleeding. It was too much talking in my ear, screaming.”

Neighbors then frantically tore off their shirts to put pressure on Mendes' multiple gunshot wounds that pierced his chest, arms and legs.

The teen was in critical condition at a Boston hospital Thursday afternoon, his mother and police said.

Exhausted from being up all night at her son's hospital bed, she said Mendes, who had emergency surgery after the shooting, showed slight movement.

“He can't talk. I asked him to move his toes, and he did,” said his mother, a cancer survivor, her eyes brimming with tears. “Then I said, 'Listen, I'm here with you. You'll be OK.'”

No suspects had been identified by Thursday afternoon, police said.

What may have led to the shooting remained under investigation Thursday, police said.

Police were looking to talk with a man, believed to be between 18 and 20 years of age, with dreadlocks who was seen running from the scene shortly after the shooting.

A state police helicopter hovered over West Elm Street and Belmont Avenue shortly after the shooting looking for the suspect or suspects.

Wednesday's brazen daytime shooting happened less than five days after a 17-year-old was shot dead in Brockton.

Jose Gurley, 17, was gunned down early Saturday morning at Roosevelt Heights, a city-owned housing complex on Brockton's north side. He was the third teen to be shot dead in Brockton in the past two months. No arrests had been made in that shooting by Thursday afternoon, police said.

On Winthrop Street, witnesses said there was a car driving by when they heard gunshots. It was unclear Thursday afternoon if the suspect got into a car after the shooting or if the vehicle witnesses heard was involved in the case. Police recovered a handgun in bushes on nearby West Harvard Street shortly after the shooting.

“It's a dangerous place. It has been happening here for years now,” Bianca Jones, 16, a Winthrop Street resident, said about gun violence.

“It's never gonna change,” said Victor Pina, 23, of the gun violence as he walked the perimeter of the Edgar playground with his sister and 2-year-old niece Thursday.

Pina said he became friends with Mendes a few months ago.

“I don't know if he had any enemies,” Pina said.

Mendes' mother said her son never fought with anybody.

“He never had a scratch on his body. He was always laughing,” she said.

Mendes was born in Boston and moved to Brockton as a toddler, said his mother, a divorced mother of two boys who works as a teachers assistant in city schools.

As she walked into her son's immaculate bedroom Thursday afternoon, she pointed to his Brockton High School junior prom photo taken last year.

She pointed to his night school certificate.

She pointed to a framed letter the teen wrote to his parents in 2004, promising that he would boost his grades and obey their rules.

Mendes' mother does not know why her son was shot. One hour before the shooting, her son had modeled new running shoes that he had bought before going to the playground, where he often played basketball with friends.

“He's always happy, making jokes,” she said.

Her face saddened as she spoke of city youth and recent shootings.

“You have to pray for all the girls in Brockton, all the boys in Brockton, for their safety,” she cried.

“All I know is whoever did it, to pay for it,” she said about her son's attacker. “Now it's not safe to walk anywhere. You just have to lock yourself in the house. It's not fair. We pay taxes. This (violence) has to stop.”

Mendes turned 18 two weeks ago and had received a college acceptance letter from California in recent months. The teen was planning to leave for college next month, his mother said.

Those plans will be put on hold until he recovers from his injuries.

“He opens his eyes. He looks at me. He opens, he closes them,” his mother said. “I say, 'You'll be OK.'”